Coalition of 26,000 WNY government workers switches health insurance carrier from Highmark to Univera

The largest purchaser of health insurance in Western New York has decided to end a two-decade relationship with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York and select Univera Healthcare as its new insurer.

The Labor-Management Healthcare Fund, which has about 26,000 members across governmental and public entities, has a new three-year contract with Univera that will start Jan. 1, confirmed John Greenan, chairman of the fund’s board of trustees.

Univera Healthcare exterior (copy) (copy)

Univera Healthcare is headquartered at 205 Park Club Lane in Amherst.

The Labor-Management Healthcare Fund, a coalition formed in 2003 between local municipal management and union leaders to provide affordable health insurance to employees and their families, represents workers in Erie County government, the Erie County Water Authority, Erie County Medical Center Corp., and several other municipalities such as the City of Dunkirk, the East Aurora School District and the towns of Clarence, Orchard Park, Tonawanda and West Seneca.

Greenan said the coalition issued a request for proposal for a health insurance carrier – as it does every couple of years – to try to determine who has the best services for its members. The coalition’s leaders completed that process in late June, coming to a consensus that Univera was the best option moving forward.

Greenan said the fund’s health insurance carrier has been Highmark, and its local predecessor HealthNow, for 20 years. He stressed that Highmark “was a great partner for many years, but sometimes it’s just time to change things up a bit.”

“It was a large change, and it was a difficult decision to make – changing after all those years – but consensus was built around the fact that Univera came in with a very aggressive proposal,” he said.

Greenan added that Univera came in “very aggressive on cost” in its proposal but what pushed the health plan over the top was its focus on wellness services.

“Insurance costs can be relatively similar across any provider,” he said. “But it’s the extras that really are important to our members. And wellness was a big piece. They came up with a pretty aggressive wellness plan to work with our members, because the only way for us today to control health care costs in any real meaningful way is to have healthier employees that we know that we’re insuring. For that reason, their aggressiveness on wellness was real important.”

Citing a nondisclosure agreement with Labor-Management Healthcare Fund, Univera spokesperson Peter Kates declined to comment.

Univera is latest WNY health insurer looking to downsize office space

Univera President Art Wingerter said the health plan is in discussions with building owner, Ciminelli Real Estate, about scaling back the square footage it rents at 205 Park Club Lane.

In a statement, Highmark said it is confident its ongoing investment in its local workforce, combined with “Highmark’s industry-leading innovations and solutions,” will attract new clients. The health plan, which affiliated with Pittsburgh-based Highmark more than three years ago, said that over the past two years, nearly 50 large Western New York businesses have switched to Highmark and that the health plan has retained more than 90% of its large customers.

“Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield has appreciated our long-standing partnership with LMHF and believe there will be opportunities to continue serving their members in the future,” the health plan said.

Univera’s corporate parent is Rochester-based Lifetime Healthcare Cos., which also includes Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.

Univera, Greenan said, will offer the same provider network for the fund’s members, meaning they won’t have to find new in-network medical doctors after the switch from Highmark.

Greenan said the Labor-Management Healthcare Fund’s prescription carrier is Pharmacy Benefit Dimensions, which is a subsidiary of Amherst-based health plan Independent Health.

Labor-Management Healthcare Fund, based in Cheektowaga, reported a deficit of about $370,000 in 2022, the most recent publicly available annual report filed with the IRS. Of the fund’s $248.4 million in revenue in 2022, most of it – $246.4 million – was benefits paid to or for its members.

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